I'm still alive...

Here we are, Gentle Readers, in Perth, visiting my lovely Ma and Hank for the Queen's birthday long weekend. 


There's still no progress on having our router fixed, but Mr Golightly advises it has escalated to our national carrier, who are, theoretically, responsible for the provision of the copper wire upon which all our broadband signals are run.  I am so very sick of the whole issue, having bought & failed to successfully use not one but two mobile broadband sticks... the reception in the back of our house is terrible... and the router just keeps going up down up down up down up down...


Anyway, the chair continues apace:

And all that's left to do is:


Make a circle of the piping, fit it to the box, sew it to the skirt, put the skirt on, cover the bottom of the chair, attach the box to the chair, cover the box in calico and handstitch the back down.  Not much work, really.  


Miss Natalie has finished her chair already, partly as a response to the suggestion of the Head Teacher that she's too old to successfully continue next semester in the day class... me too, and also Miss Caro, who is 4 years younger than Miss Nat.  I'm 10 years older than Nat, and 14 years older than Miss Caro.  That makes us geriatrics, and unemployable, to boot, apparently. 


I think that the Head Teacher could have handled the situation a little differently - apparently the number of vacancies for the day-class was fewer than he thought he would have, and so he chose the youngest class members to continue in the day class.  It would have been nice if he'd checked with them first, but he didn't... to cut a long story short, after he'd gone round & checked with the rest of the class, he found out that he could actually fit us oldies in because the youngsters didn't actually want to do the day class.  Don't you love the methodology?

This is the back of the chair, waiting to be hand sewn...


I promise I'll be back after we return from Perth... and hopefully the line will be fixed by then... 


Ciao!  

This is going to be the end of me...

Well, maybe not.  But it is doing my head in - we've had a new router, we've had some close attention from the ISP, I've now got two mobile broadband sticks, one of which only works in the front bedroom, the other of which is still waiting for the company to activate it - why does this process take 24 hours?  Somebody needs to explain this to me in words of one syllable...


The other news is that the new neighbours appear to have nicked our internet cable.  Their network now shows up on our router, so I suspect the previously mentioned dodgy-brothers contractor who installed their broadband didn't bother to investigate if it was already used.  Which it was.  At the time.  Hah.


Anyway, Friday was probably the worst day I've had at upholstery school.  Not only did I completely frack up the cutting out of the skirt for the slipper chair, I cut my last piece of fabric for the outside back too small & had to cut another one out of the piping fabric, which I also cut too small.  Then I sewed up the skirts & put the inserted piece on the wrong side, so I had to unpick it and restitch it... twice.  Then I cut out the calico for the skirt, and cut it too short.  Then I cut the missing piece.  Too short.  So then I had to cut another piece, and my calico now has three pieces, instead of one nice smooth piece.  And finally, I cut one of the corners for the box lining too short, and had to spend most of Monday trying to fix it, eventually throwing myself on the mercy of the Upholstery Munchkin...Hah.  Why did I think this was going to fun all the time?  Well, actually, it was, until Friday. 


I have no idea what was going on, but I'm going in on Wednesday to finish the chair seat - webbing, vinyl, white plastic trim round the edge, four layers of foam, linters, calico & fabric.  I'm also going to unpick the skirt, because, guess what?  I found the missing piece of the skirt, and I'm going to unpick the skirt & reinsert it so I don't have six pieces, just the regular four.  Then I'm going to fit the skirt, attach the piping, and then I'll be up to the same point as everybody else.  Well, nearly everybody.  Some of us are still putting stuff together on the chair, so I don't feel too too bad about my progress.  I have a photo for you, but my toolbox with the camera is in the car, waiting to zip off tomorrow morning.

I have injuries to relate, too, but that will have to wait.  It's 10.25pm, Gentle Readers, and I'm off to bed.  All this sitting, watching the router has exhausted me. 


 Ciao!

Quick, be quick

I've been so bad this week and it's not my fault, Gentle Readers, but the fault of either the weather, which has been rather wet, or the new neighbours, who moved in about the time the weather started, and who may or may not have, just saying', you know how it is, been given our broadband copper wire by some dodgy-brothers telephony contractor, because, our wireless router is up, it's down, it's up, it's down... It has more ups & downs than the roller coaster at Luna Park.  Roll on the National Broadband Network*.


Anyway, not only have I fallen waaaay behind on my blogging obligations, I've also fallen behind on the Facebook scrabble I play with my lovely Ma & MGF Kaz, correspondence with a number of other people, lurking on blogs, reading blogs, wasting time on the interweb, and of course, being amazed when I realise how much I've actually achieved by not wasting time on the interweb.


Upholstery school continues apace, I had a good day and a bad day today... mostly good, because I went in specially on Tuesday to finish the practice back of the Slipper chair - they make you do one in crap fabric before you slice your own, expensive fabric up - I'm doing some fairly complex pattern matching, and this is the mid-point of where I got up to:

It took me about an hour to get the positions of the outside pieces right.  I actually got them stitched on, and then did something so stupid I'm still kicking myself... All the staples for the outside edge of the inside back are supposed to go on the back of the chair (got that?), where they won't be seen when it's finished.  Miss Dummy here managed to staple on the side, putting big holes in the side fabric, where it will be seen.  Agggh.  Anyway, I had to pull the entire inside back all off, unpick the rhs piece, cut another one (thank the goddess I bought lots of the fabric) and then reposition it (remembering that it took me an hour to get the position right this morning!).  Sniff.  Whimper.  I'm now behind again, and will need to work like a navvy to get back up to the rest of them.  


Well, when I say the rest of them, I mean the three other people who've done more than this.  John, Dean & I are still wrestling with the sewing machine, and Jo is still trying to get the inside back webbing & hessian on her chair.  


Miss Sulky actually managed to have a conversation today with one of the four of us she doesn't normally acknowledge, which made the sky fall in (and I guess that might explain all the rain?), and I'm wondering if she's realised that treating people in a completely contemptuous way isn't the best idea if you've got to work as a team?  Anyway, I quite enjoy being in Upholstery-purdah, it certainly means I don't have to be polite to people I think need a good smack round the head...

I will take a photo tomorrow of the finished inside back so you can see the fruits of my labours - but here's a shot of how it might look, so you can have an idea of what I'm agonising over:

Curse you, Amy Butler.


More later.  Dinner calls, plus Spicks and Specks.  You gotta love that Alan Bro', eh?


Ciao!


*No, seriously!

Did I mention...

That in the middle of all of this good fun, the three Upholstery Musketeers (Natalie, Caroline and me!) went off to Burnt Street Upholstery on Tuesday morning for an outing of sheer unbridled fabric porn?  


Caroline was looking for the perfect combination of pattern, stripe and plain for her Slipper chair's front, back & piping, and I was looking for some plain cornflower blue to match the Amy Butler Temple Doors, to use as piping... and also some aqua to go with the Joel Dewberry for the sprung footstool. That's why I walked away with 30 metres of powder blue cotton damask, at only $10/metre.  

And why, I hear you ask, do you want 30 metres of curtain material, when you're supposed to be buying fabric for a fracking chair???  Many years ago, when Mr Golightly and I first moved into this house, my lovely Ma and I went to a [much missed] shop called Hart St Fabric House, and bought metres of beautiful camel coloured cotton damask, in a very subtle print, which she made into curtains to hang in the guest bedroom.  They look fabulous, classic, subtle, expensive (but they werent'!).  So, I could barely believe my eyes when I spotted the very same pattern, but in a blue!  


Gentle Readers, the back of our house faces north, which is, of course, ideal in the Southern Hemisphere.  We get lots of lovely warm sun in the winter, and good shade in the summer because of the angle of the trees in the back yard.  But at night, when the sun is gone (oh dear, did I just say that?), it gets cold.  All that glass, you see.  So, we have curtains.  Lined curtains at that, which I made, this time.  


I confess that I bought the original living room curtain material in Spotlight, after spending more quality fabric porn time with Miss Cathy at KA International.  I had found my dream fabric there for the living room curtains, but it was $178/metre.  Ouch.  Given that we need about 24 metres, it was going to be mega-expensive.  So I bought this other stuff instead, cheap, from that store whose name starts with S and ends in ...light, and I have always regretted it.  It's the colour of cocoa, with a tiny little woven blue square in it.  Even with the lining, all you see is the lines of the blue weaving, so it looks like a horizontal stripe.  Icky.  Also, I didn't buy enough, and the curtains are not wide enough.  Curtains need to be at least three times the width of the window to look any good.  Having two drops just doesn't cut it.   

Note:  not my house!


Anyway, I squealed like a girl when I saw this powder blue Damask, and the nice lady gave it to me for $10/metre.  There's enough to make the curtains, nicely full, and have some over for cushions or whatever.  Which is just as well, because I think I'm going to have to sell off some of the more expensive soft furnishings in the house to cover it.

Anyway, it's 10.37pm now, I've been up since 4.15am (the coughing thing again, don't ask), and I'm pooped.  Off to bed, hopefully to sleep through until 5.30am, when I get up and do it all again.  I've got pics, tomorrow, of the progress on the chair, too, so stay tuned.  Same bat time, same bat channel.  (How old does that make me????)


Ciao!

Oh yes, where was I?

Before I was so rudely interrupted by the need to schlep off to Upholstery School, and, I might add, even with getting up at 0415 I was still three minutes late out the door for Miss Natalie...,I was explaining why we went to Pearls on the Beach on Saturday?  Because my lovely Bro, my DSB* is turning 50 in June, and this was the only day we all had free to celebrate.  


A few words about the Bro.  I don't have a brother.  If I had had a brother, he'd be what I want.  He's the middle child, so of course he's incredibly well adjusted.  He's funny, he's smart and he's got about the biggest hands I've ever seen.  Plus, he's a redhead and he's married to one of the tallest women I know, so that means he's even more incredibly well adjusted.  I just made that up, there's no scientific basis at all to that assertion.  But it must be true, because I said so.


Here's a pic of him showing proper reverence for the fabulous wine we bought him for his birthday (and those huge hands!):

Happy Birthday Bro!


In news of the Upholstery School kind, I finally finished the arm exercises on Monday - I have to say that inserting decorative tacks into vinyl in a straight line, perfectly aligned, is an incredible pain in the arm, and if I never have to do another one, I'll be happy, but then I'll never create a fantastic piece like this:

Oh well.  The head teacher is currently joking about what we will actually be doing in our shops when we've finished, and we've eliminated stripes, velvet, checks, pleats, skirts, vinyl and possibly leather.  So far we're offering cushions and buttons, and church pews.  Lots of upholstery on these...

And here's a picture of Miss Natalie starting work on her slipper chair.  This is a chair which sits on a box, then the box becomes a secret compartment (you can't see the box for the skirt when it's finished)... 

Here's a kind of similar finished version:

Mine's going to be covered with this:

which should be a very interesting exercise in pattern placement - the pattern is huge, and the inside back of the chair (the bit of the back that faces you when you look at the chair) is actually three pieces - lots of fun & games, careful cutting and some bad language, methinks.  I'll keep you posted.

Anyway, my hands are cold, I haven't had breakfast, and I need to go & do my cutting out plan for this chair.  Ah, back to the heavenly salt mines.  

Ciao!

*Defacto Step Brother - my mother's partner's son.  Got it?

Up with the lark...

Or, more accurately, up with the cold.  Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!  TMI Moment approaching!  I woke up with that horrible sensation of something needing to remove itself from my lungs, and rather than wake the soundly-sleeping Mr G, I (being completely awake, you understand), decided to get up.


So, it's now 5.01am.  I've put all the pictures on both cameras into Picasa, and I'm about to make a food collage for MGF* Kaz, who kindly sent me the pictures she took yesterday.  So, I hear you ask, where did you go yesterday?  Well, Gentle Readers, MBF* Deb kindly took Mr G & I up to Palm Beach, where we got on the ferry to Patonga, a little community which is  reachable by car, but is a very long hour and 41 minutes away... whereas via the ferry?  30 minutes.  Hard to resist, especially with views like this along the way:

And we were then picked up by the excellent folk at Pearls on the Beach, a lovely restaurant set in an old weatherboard building, on the edge of the water, where we ate and drank mightily, and I have to say not being constrained by the obligation to drive was extremely pleasant...


And now, sadly, it's 5.30am, and I have to get up - small, very small, joke there - but I will share the picture of the beautiful food with you, before I rush off to make a very ordinary ham & avocado sandwich for lunch and throw myself into Upholstery School today:

As to the occasion?  More, later.  I promise!


Ciao!

Today I... wagged school

That's a uniquely Aussie expression for 'didn't go to school' - the nice doctor peered down my throat yesterday, reeled back in horror at what she saw and immediately climbed into the lead-lined suit in case she picked it up herself.


Anyway, I spent an extremely lazy day today sleeping, knitting, reading (just started Hanging Hill, by Mo Hayder, one of my favourite authors - got it via Amazon/Kindle for US$7.95, a tiny bit cheaper than A$39.99 at the local bookstore) and ignoring the 'Present that cannot be named', which is now waiting for its b********.  


Yesterday I spent a pleasant day with MBF before frightening the doctor, and on the way home from Town on Tuesday, where I had a quasi-farewell lunch with Miss Mary, who is off to the UK for an undefined period, I bought some this:

and some of this:

One of which will go on the 'Present that cannot be named" and one of which won't.  Sorry, no prizes.


I also made discreet inquiries of Miss Mary regarding her car, which is somewhat larger than the Silver Flash, and a stationwagon, or estate car to boot (no pun intended), or whatever they're called where you live - and she's offering it up for a very good price, so some kind of trade may be made.  I did offer up Mr Golightly, but she demurred gently, saying she couldn't fit him in the luggage.  Shame, that.


It's the ideal size for picking up furniture, a practice I am going to go into RSN.  Miss Rosie from School has told me about a Secret Squirrel warehouse way out west where bargains may be had, all of which need love and attention of the upholstery kind.  Our garage is about to overflow...


MGF Kaz just rang me to say they've been in the beautiful Hunter Valley 17 years today, so 
I may have to make a tribute Treasury & put it on the blog... stay tuned.  And that's it for me, Gentle Readers.  I have to go now & cook dinner for Mr G, who is going to come thumping up the steps any minute, catching me wasting my time once again.  Tote that barge, lift that bail, hey?  Back to upholstery school to bang in the nail.  Love it!


Ciao!